Laser range finders often include a focus mechanism configured to focus a probe beam at various target distances. In a typical example, a beam focusing lens is translated along its axis by 25 mm to focus the probe beam at target distances ranging from 1 m to 50 m. During translation, the lens can pitch, yaw, and shift perpendicularly to the intended direction of motion. This extra motion can be referred to as “wobble” and can cause the direction of the beam to change direction. This erroneous direction variation is known as boresight error (BSE) and produces an error in measured target position. Other types of focus mechanisms, such as liquid lenses, liquid crystal lenses, and Alverez lenses may also exhibit BSE. A repeatable component of BSE can be calibrated, but an unrepeatable component can produce random errors that degrade angular precision. One approach to reducing BSE is to design a translation mechanism that has sufficiently small unrepeatable wobble, but such mechanisms can be complex and expensive. In addition, such mechanisms can fail to address other BSE errors such as those associated with temperature gradients which cause unmeasured displacements of components and changes in beam pointing direction.